Australian surfer injured in suspected shark attack

SYDNEY – A state government in Australian has proposed installing protective nets off a coastal town where a surfer was injured in a second suspected shark attack in two weeks.

A New South Wales state police statement says a 25-year-old man was surfing with friends on Wednesday off Ballina, 600 kilometers (350 miles) north of Sydney, when something bumped his board and tipped him into the water.

Police say he was bitten by something which inflicted a small wound to his lower right leg. He was treated in hospital.

In late September, a 17-year-old surfer required stitches to close a leg wound after he was bitten by a shark off a Ballina beach. A 41-year-old Japanese surfer was killed by a shark off Ballina last year.